PARIS (AP) — The latest news related to the U.N. climate conference outside Paris. All times local:
2:35 p.m.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he’s hopeful that negotiators can finalize a landmark climate accord Saturday and has been working behind the scenes to reach compromises on contentious issues.
He told reporters Friday at the talks outside of Paris “there was a lot of progress made last night, a long night, but still a couple of very difficult issues that we’re working on.”
He says “I’m hopeful … it could come to a conclusion sometime tomorrow.” The French hosts are aiming for a final draft Saturday, a day after the scheduled end of the two-week talks.
Kerry said some envoys “have been working quietly behind the scenes to work out compromises ahead of time” but he would not elaborate on what those were.
Kerry met Friday with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Indian Environment Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar.
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1:20 p.m.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says negotiators trying to finalize a sweeping climate accord are still in disagreement over how far-reaching it should be and who should pay for damages wrought by global warming.
“There are still outstanding issues,” Ban told reporters Friday in Le Bourget, outside Paris. Among them are “ambitions, climate financing” and so-called differentiation — whether big emerging economies like China and India should pitch in to reduce globRep. Al Green (D-TX)house gas emissions and help the poorest countries cope with climate change.
Talks host and France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said after meeting with Ban that he is aiming to have a final draft accord ready by 9 a.m. (0800GMT) Saturday to present to the more than 190 delegations at the talks.
Fabius stayed up most of the night in negotiations, and said he is resuming meetings with “all groups” Friday afternoon.
“We are almost at the end of the road,” Fabius said.
Ban said he’s “convinced and confident” that they’ll reach an “ambitious, strong accord.”
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12:05 p.m.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to return to marathon global climate negotiations after staying at the conference site into the wee hours of the morning.
Celebrating his 72nd birthday on Friday, Kerry was to plunge back into the detailed talks with a meeting with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon in the afternoon. Kerry stayed at the talks in Le Bourget outside of Paris until 2 a.m. Friday, meeting with U.S., French and other negotiators and delivering the American response to a new draft accord.
Negotiators had been aiming to wrap up the talks on Friday, but French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that deadline would not be met. Saturday is the new target, he said.
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10:40 a.m.
Analysts say a delay in the Paris climate talks is not necessarily a bad sign.
They said it is not surprising, given that international negotiators are trying for an accord that will change the global economy over the long term.
“This needs consensus,” said Michael Jacobs, an economist with the New Climate Economy project, speaking to reporters outside Paris. “There’s a lot of negotiating to do.”
The French co-host of the talks said the final accord wouldn’t be ready Friday as hoped but would run until Saturday.
Economist and climate expert Lord Nicholas Stern said an accord cutting carbon emissions over the long term is important for the business world, and so it is important to get broad agreement.
“Those making investments now can be much more confident that making those low carbon will be profitable, and making them high carbon carries financial risk,” he said.
Sam Barratt of advocacy group Avaaz said, “These talks matter. We would rather they take their time and were patient with the right deal than rush it and get a breakdown … Getting 200 countries to agree on anything is tough. Getting them to agree on the future of the planet and a deal on climate change is probably one of the toughest pieces of negotiation they’ll ever get involved in.”
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8 a.m.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says high-stakes climate talks he is co-hosting outside Paris will not end Friday as planned but will last at least until Saturday.
Diplomats and other top officials from more than 190 countries are trying to agree on the text of what would be an unprecedented deal for all countries to reduce man-made carbon emissions and cooperate to adapt to rising seas and increasingly extreme weather caused by human activity.
The two-week talks were scheduled to wrap up Friday. Fabius said on BFM television Friday morning, “I will not present the text Friday evening, as I had thought, but Saturday morning.”
“There is still work to do,” he said. “Things are going in the right direction.”
Negotiators from China, the U.S. and other nations haggled into the early morning Friday over how to share the burden of fighting climate change and paying for a trillion-dollar transition to clean energy on a global scale.
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